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10
"suffering arrd losses experienced urrder
the Nazis." Begun in 1954, these pay–
ments will continue as long as the indi·
viduals
con~.:erned
are alive. Aheady
these payments have soared above $2
billion.
Emocional Reactions Result
What all these figures do not show is
the intense emotional reactions that
have accompanied the entire develop–
ment of relations between West Ger–
many and Israel. To this day many in
Israel are fiercely opposed to any
contact whatsoever with Gcrmans. The
moral issue has always been a sore
point; to many lsraelis, help of any
kind from Germany is "blood money"
and the argumeot "what do we get
for Grandpa and Grandma ?" has
induced many to react emotionally on
this touchy subject.
In January of 1952, when then-Prime–
Minister David Ben-Gurion called the
Knesset into session to discuss possible
contacts with West Germany, more than
10,000 demonstrators sucrounded the
Knesset building in Jerusalem, smashing
windows, stoning waUs and throwing
tear-gas bombs to protest even the possi–
bility of talks with Germans. Yohanan
Bader, a member of Israel's opposition
Herut Party (today part of the opposi·
tion Gahal Party) intoned: "In this
generation at least, we should have
nothing to do with the Germans"
(quoted in the
National
Obsen1er,
November 26, 1962) .
The Germans, for their part, were al–
most totally preoccupied with their own
personal survival after World War II.
The enormity of the Nazi atrocities
against the Jews never sank in - with
the result that many Germans saw no
reason for any kind of special repara–
tions payments.
Others argued from a legal stand–
point that Israel was not even a nation
at the time when the crimes were com–
mitted, therefore there was no lega[
basis on which to base reparations.
Bankers, industrialists and others de–
clared that in promising huge amounts
of money to Israel, Chancellor Konrad
Adenauer was placing a burden on the
economy of West Germany which it
could not handle.
But events like the simultaneous
The
PLAIN TRUTH
opening in seven German cities of the
stage play, "The Diary of Anne Frank"
produced a wave of emotion that broke
through the silence Germans had built
toward the Nazi Period and created new
feeling for the Jews of Israel.
Amazingly enough the trial of Adolph
Eichmann in 1961 - one of the chief
executioners of Hitler's "Final Solution"
- greatly stimulated the rapprochement
"The Middle East is the
greatest threat to world
peace. More so than the
situation in Southeast Asia
because the Southeast Asia
situation does not take
place at the crossroads of
civilization.
11
Rolf E. Pauls
-
Firsl Wesl German
Amba ssador ro
Israel
between Germans and Israelis from the
German point of view.
Germany Begins to
Express Sorrow
In Germany, the tria! put Israel on
the map. A large contingent of German
reportees were on hand in Jerusalem to
cover the tria!. Their daily reports over
the many months that the tria! dragged
on, reveal ing what so many did not
want to think about or recall, never–
theless brought Israel into focus.
This was especially true for the
young. They had not been present dur·
ing thc;: War. Suddeoly the tria! became
the topic of conversation - even a
source of pride at what a young, small
nation, surrounded by enemies, could
do. Israel was zealous;
it
had goals; its
people were inspired by a vision and an
idea that young Germans d id not see or
feel around them in occupied Germany.
Israel even became a nation to visit and
with which to identify.
Whatever the ontlook of individual
opinions, the German people had inher–
ited the legacy of the terrible wrongs
perpetrated by other Germans upon the
Jewish people. As the first President,
Theodor Heuss, stated, the citizens of
Germany had to accept a "feeling of
mass shame...."
December
1971
T he Feeling of Empathy Remains
In July of this year (1971) Walter
Scheel - the first West German For–
eign Minister to visit Israel - stated
that despite the good relations that exist
between West Germany and Israel
today, "no German can be free of the
memories of the terrible past." He was
9uoted as saying that it was Germany's
duty to see that Israel achieves security
and that its aspirations for peace are
fulfilled.
for Israel, these are relatively pleas–
ing words. Security and even survival
are a daily stake for a tiny nation of
barely 3 million people surrounded by
host ile countries which have openly
avowed to obl iterate Israel and
"J
iberate
Palestine."
This commitment to Israelí security
has been in the minds of other German
leaders, notably Franz Josef Strauss.
West German Defense Minister under
Konrad Adenauer until tbe
'Der Spiegel
AffaiJJ
in 1962, Herr Strauss has done
a great deal to contribute to the arming
of Israel. Back in December, 1957
under the tacit agreement of Chancellor
Adenauer, preliminary agreements were
reached between Herr Strauss and
Director General of the lsraeli Defense
Ministry Shimon Peres which eventually
led to the supplying of West German
arms to Israel to the tune of between
sixty and eighty miUion dollars.
This represented the Jirst política! de·
cision by West Germany in favor of Is·
rae!. It was to include delivery of some
fifty planes, anti-aircraft guns with elec–
tronic installations, howitzers and anti–
tank rockets of the German Cobra type,
among other weapons.
Arms Shipments Begin
Delivery was difficult and in fact
amounted to nothing more than
smuggling. A number of other countries
became shipping points. Germany did
not want to appear to be the original
expediter. Even after the arms deliveries
were discovered by the world, some felt
that "Strauss had done more for Ger–
man-Jewish reconciliation than any
other German, with the exception of
Professor Boehm, who bad done such
vital work to see the Luxembourg
Treaty through"
(Bonn and Jem-